Teen carolers say singing for Laney Brown was 'a moving experience'

Rachana Nayak

Junior, Wilson

A month ago, few people knew who Delaney "Laney" Brown was.

Laney, 8, lost her battle to leukemia early Christmas morning. The West Reading girl became known in Berks County after her mother, Jennifer Brown, created the Team Laney Facebook page, which has around 150,000 likes. Her mom started the page in response to all the support people had shown toward the Brown family.

In mid-December, Laney's doctors told her she had days or weeks to live, according to news reports. Her family brought her home to let her have "as much fun as she can handle," her mom wrote on the Facebook page.

Laney had many things on her bucket list. While she was at the hospital, she got to fulfill some of her wishes, such as petting an alligator and being a baby sitter, according to published reports.

When she came home, two of her biggest wishes came true.

Laney wanted to meet Taylor Swift. Thousands of Laney supporters Facebooked and tweeted Swift in an attempt to make this wish come true. Eventually, with the help of the Make A Wish Foundation, Laney got exactly what she wanted, and on her 8th birthday, Dec. 20, Swift Facetimed Laney.

"Laney lit up and had a huge smile on her face," her mother wrote on the Facebook page.

Another of Laney's last wishes was to see carolers, and on the very next day, Dec. 21, thousands gathered outside Laney's house and sang as loudly as they could.

"There were so many people," said Renee Short, a junior at Wilson. "I got there about an hour early and there was even a huge crowd then."

The crowd was estimated at nearly 10,000 people, according to published reports.

But the caroling had an even deeper meaning than trying to make Laney's wish come true: Berks County people had strongly joined together to show love and support.

"I thought it was so amazing and heartwarming that the community came out to support Laney in such large numbers," said Sarah Muchoney, also a junior at Wilson. "Even though I didn't know her personally, it was definitely a moving experience and an incredible feeling to be able to come together with thousands of people to help fulfill one of her last wishes."

The caroling shows that no matter how much vice our community may be filled with, or no matter how bad an area's reputation may be, we can still show love for one another.

"It was incredibly wonderful to know that there are good people out there still despite everyone saying that society is bad," Renee says. "The caroling for Laney not only helped Laney but also showed ourselves that we can still be good, and I'm thankful to Laney for that."